1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a packaged small-duct, high-velocity air conditioning and heat pump apparatus that has a compact construction that facilitates its incorporation into a building structure and its connection with a small-duct, high-velocity air distribution system. The compact construction of the apparatus is achieved by a novel arrangement of a refrigerant fluid compressor, a condenser coil, an evaporator coil, expansion valves, a reversing valve, a hot water coil, a condenser fan, an evaporator fan, and control systems for the condenser and evaporator in a single enclosure that can be easily mounted in a wall of a structure to provide heating and air conditioning to the interior of the structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heat pumps have been used for many years as an efficient way to provide both heating and air conditioning to the interior of a structure such as a residential home, an office building, a manufacturing facility, etc. The typical heat pump is constructed with the same basic construction of an air conditioner, but with the addition of a reversing valve that allows the flow of the fluid refrigerant (typically Freon) to be reversed. In a typical air conditioner a compressor compresses cool Freon gas, increasing the pressure of the fluid and increasing the heat of the fluid. The hot, high pressure fluid is directed through a set of condenser coils typically positioned in the exterior environment of the structure. The hot, high pressure fluid passing through the condenser coils allows the fluid to cool and condense into a liquid. The condensed liquid is routed back into the interior of the structure and to an expansion valve. The liquid passes through the expansion valve which decreases the pressure of the fluid. The decreasing pressure of the fluid causes the fluid to cool and evaporate into a gas. The cold gas is routed through a set of evaporator coils and absorbs heat from the structure interior. In this manner, the air in the interior of the structure is cooled.
A heat pump is constructed in much the same manner as the air conditioner described above. The heat pump also includes a compressor, a condenser coil, an expansion valve, and an evaporator coil. In addition, the heat pump includes a reversing valve that reverses the flow of the refrigerant. When the reversing valve is switched one way, the heat pump acts as an air conditioner as described above. When the reversing valve is switched the other way, the flow of refrigerant fluid through the system coils is reversed and the system functions as a heater.
Although heat pumps are very efficient in their use of energy in both cooling and heating the interior of structures, the construction of the heat pump typically requires positioning one set of coils in the structure interior and the other set of coils in the exterior environment of the structure. Thus, the typical heat pump is basically constructed in two separate parts. The two-part construction complicates the assembly of the heat pump into a structure, requires a significant space both in the interior of the structure and at the immediately adjacent exterior environment of the structure, and complicates the assembly of the heat pump into the air conditioning and cooling system of the structure. Additionally, the use of a conventional heat pump in a structure also requires the installation of bulky duct work to convey the heating or cooling air from the heat pump.